If you are a hobbyist/amateur woodworker, you have probably, at some point of time, thought about going pro with your skill. You have wondered what it could be like making an income doing something you absolutely love to do. Well, here’s us looking into this very possibility.
Just remember, be sure that you are ready to learn new things and take on the responsibility of running a business. Many an artist will inform you that when they get into a business with their art and craft, the business side of things takes over the creating aspect.
There are easy ways to test the waters and take things from there. Let’s follow a few small steps.
1) What Do You Make
You must be already good at making something out of wood. Perhaps you like making small furniture or you like to carve decorative pieces. If you do not have anything particular you like to make, think about your strengths.
The idea here is to change your own mindset and start thinking of objects that others would want to buy from you. So they have to be 2 things, articles of good quality and make and something people will want.
2) Keep It Small
Don’t try to sell a gazebo just yet. Make a small craft. Small enough to be easily sold locally or even smaller to be sold and shipped with ease online. There are plenty of small furniture and woodcraft ideas you can use. Pick out one that you can expect to sell well locally as well as online. Ready this post for some great ideas of wood projects to sell.
3) Sell To Friends and Family
Let’s let you in on something. For most of the small business startups, it’s the friends and family who are the first customers and investors too. And just as importantly, everyone loves to have a woodworker and craftsperson in the house, someone they know and can trust.
So not only can you expect to find your first customers within the people you know, if you are interested, you can take up woodworking job for them as well. Make something cool in your woodshop and your friends will be the first people to want one for themselves as well. This is absolutely true for almost all home based businesses. The first few orders always come from friends and family.
4) Word By Mouth
There is more ways than one in which your friends and family can help. They can spread the word around. Once again, believe us when we tell you that ‘word by mouth’ advertising continues to be one of the most powerful forms of promotion for small businesses. I’ve seen online business built up with just word of mouth marketing and nothing else.
5) Start Gifting
Don’t be shy when it comes to making a gift out of one of your handmade creations. It’s going to be novel and beautiful and people are going to love you for it. This just help the word get around about your art and craft.
6) Change Your Mindset
You know what it takes to be in business. Making that first sale. Doesn’t matter how it happens. And you are closer than you think from making it. You need to get confident about your woodworking skills and in case you feel you need improvement, go and get it.
7) Sell Online
It’s easy to get yourself liked online. Well not really. Technically you can open an account and have your self put a sale online in under one hour. But if you hope to make any sales, there is a lot of things that have to be done first. Such as choosing a brand name, clicking great pictures, writing engaging product descriptions.
We know that websites like Etsy are really how platforms for any artist to sell their creation, and we really encourage you to do the same as well. But do not do it without making the preparation, or you are just going to get lost in the sea of sellers. Read out section on “Selling on Ebay” here and you will understand a lot of things such as importance of branding, good product pictures etc.
One you get this right, Etsy and Ebay can become a great source of income that you can tap into at will. But to begin with, for most woodworking, hobbyists, selling physically and locally to the people they know is much easier and the first advisable course of action.
Before you start selling online, be sure to setup your own online store as well. It doesn’t take long if you use a service like Shopify.
8) Work Part Time
This is the beauty of starting a small woodworking business at home. Start at as sedate a pace you wish. Do you work only on weekends on your woodworking hobby? That’s not a problem. People with other jobs frequently start their home-based business on a part time basis. In fact, starting a part-time makes complete sense, and we hope that soon you feel able to quit your other job to purue your home based woodworking business with greater success.
9) Get Help/Learn More
You probably need some convincing that turning your woodworking hobby into a source of income is something into a source of income is something you can do, full time or part time. By reaching this post, we hope that you are at least partly already there. The learning never ends and neither should it. Learning new things keeps things fresh and interesting. Here is a post on the best places to learn woodworking. Check it out.
